All brands of salbutamol nebulisers currently covered under the medical card scheme are out of stock nationwide due to a manufacturing problem and issues with the supply chain. Therefore, pharmacists, through no fault of their own, have to come up with alternatives, namely the prescription of an unlicensed product that is not covered by the HSE and that is not reimbursable. That probably costs about €30. I am getting dozens of calls to my office about this. When I put it up on Facebook and asked people to make contact with me, hundreds of individuals made contact with our office about other products that are not available or about substitute products that are coming in. There are products that are not available that are covered under the medical card scheme. People have to use substitute products as a result and they have to pay for them. These sometimes cost €30, €40 or €50. Can we make allowances for those people who are on the medical card such that when there is a supply deficiency and a product is not available, the cost of substitute products will be under the medical card scheme?

We have to be careful about this, because there has to be some regulatory framework governing substitute products.

I agree.

It is not simple. We have had experiences in the past where situations have been exploited or whatever. I will refer the matter to the Minister for Health and him to respond to the Deputy about the issue. I appreciate him raising it because obviously, it is an issue of concern to quite a number of people out there.